March 9, 2012

Josh and Amy needed a little more pizzazz and a little more function out of their kitchen in their condo near the Chain of Lakes. They decided it was definitely time for some improvements while, during a dinner party, one of their cabinet doors fell completely off its hinges! They called on the help of hauthaus and cabinet-makers-extraordinaire Modern Design. We, along with Contractor Brad, transformed the dated and non-functioning space into a beautiful space that works well for the couple.

Changes we made:

The half wall divider between the dining room and kitchen was removed to open up the spaces and to allow for a breakfast bar.

The kitchen was completely gutted; we added in new bamboo flooring, dark stained Alder cabinets, granite counter tops, stacked stone back splash, new appliances, hardware and plumbing fixtures, and a new coat of paint to the walls and the ceiling.

Adding new recessed cans and under cabinet lighting really improved the space by adding layers of light.

Now the space functions great for the couple, who like to entertain. Along with their kitchen we worked on their entry, living room, guest bathroom and master bathroom. more pictures to come, so stay tuned!

Josh and Amy's kitchen: after.

Detail shot of the stacked stone back splash; tile from Fantasia Showrooms.

March 5, 2012

Changes are a-happening outside and we don’t mean with the weather!

Exterior changes have been taking place at our Mendota Heights project. We have snapped some pictures of the progress so far…

Below, the top pictures shows the existing exterior in December 2010 when we came to the project. The front door is currently hard to distinguish, so we wanted to redesign the front of the house to make it feel more balanced and more pronounced.

The middle picture shows the progress shot from April last year with the trees in full leaves; you can see a shoot was placed in the upper floor window to make removing the debris easier.

The bottom picture was snapped last week (before the snow!). You can see the new front of the house taking shape. Thescreens from the loggia are removed and one of the arches was brought forward to make the front door stand out. The windows on the second floor were repositioned to be centered over the front door. And all the way on the left side of the picture, you can see the second garage stall that was added.

January 30, 2012

The upstairs of this new garage wanted to become something special. And since our clients entertain we knew just what to give them. Dan and Cindy knew they wanted a wall of storage an some appliances in their new kitchenette so we designed one to suit their needs and their style with a dishwasher, sink, a one-burner cook top, microwave drawer, and mini fridge.

A 'Before' shot of the kitchenette space.

hauthaus drawing of the cabinets.

Kitchenette details:

We specified cherry cabinets to coordinate with their cherry bathroom that is connected to the space.

The upper cabinets have mesh doors for sound to flow through the already built in speakers.

The long shelf will display their Starbucks mug collection.

Cambria counters were installed since they are virtually no-maintence and the color, Halstead, worked great with the mosaic wall tile.

Over time, the cherry cabinets will darken and will pop nicely off of the hickory floors.

We chose a single dishwasher drawer to save on space. Drawers can be very efficient if you have small loads to wash!

An 'After' shot of the kitchenette. The outlet covers need to be painted and the rest of the hardware installed, but it's almost done!

January 25, 2012

Here is a snippet of one of our kitchen remodel projects. Our clients came to us to re-work their kitchen after we worked on their master suite a while back. They had moved into this parade home in the 90s and were in need of some updating.

Below you’ll see the before and after pictures and our problems and design solutions.

Before: The white kitchen needed some changes and updates.

a. problem: The clients were tired of their white cabinets and wanted something new. The existing cabinets weren’t constructed very well and didn’t seem to function the way that they needed them to. solution: We designed new cabinets and stained them espresso and outfitted them with pretty french brass hardware.

b. problem: The existing granite and cook top were still in great shape and the clients wanted to keep them. solution: We kept the floor plan the same to accommodate for the existing granite. The cook top stayed in the same place as well.

c. problem: The upper cabinets were only 15″ off of the counter top and this made working under the cabinets hard. solution: Since we raised the cabinets up to 18″ off the counter we selected new back splash tile. Now the counter top can be used to it’s full potential.

d. problem: the microwave was only 14″ from the cook top so cooking in a tall stock pot was out of the question – it simply didn’t fit!solution: We relocated the microwave and designed a custom hood for proper space above the cooktop and the right ventilation.

e. problem: The current set up didn’t allow for adequate ventilation for the gas cook top. solution: The newly designed hood works great for venting and aesthetically fits into the new cabinetry since we framed it in the same wood as the cabinets.

f. problem: The glass cabinets made the existing kitchen feel too busy. solution: We designed paneled doors for most of the upper cabinets to create a more cohesive, clean feel.

g. problem: Once we took the microwave out from above the cook top, it needed a home out of the sight line. solution: We placed a new drawer microwave in the base cabinet to the right of the cook top to keep it in the work triangle, but to keep it out of the sight line.

h. problem: We felt that the base cabinets needed some details. solution: We added legs to the cooktop cabinet and the left and right of the sink. This breaks up the long, linear lines of the base cabinets and adds a custom feel to the new kitchen.

After: Once we studied the kitchen and came up with a list of problems, we designed solutions to make the kitchen more efficient and functional.

January 13, 2012

Tile can add another layer of interest and texture to any space; bathrooms, mudrooms, kitchens, etc.

Below, you’ll see some Before and After pictures of a kitchen our clients’ condo Downtown Minneapolis where we added some pizzazz by adding in a tile back splash. When we were sourcing the tile we needed to keep in mind that it needed to work with the existing granite counter tops and it also had to be neutral enough to work with the flow of the main living space of the condo since it features an open floor plan where the dining room, home office and living room area all connected.

We ended up selecting a beautiful handcrafted tile made with 70% recycled glass in a brick pattern from Fantasia Showrooms at IMS for this project.

January 11, 2012

One of your New Year’s Resolutions might be to get more organized. It seems we all say this at least once a year… “if only I was more organized then…”

Well we’re going to show you an example of a hauthaus kitchen design and organization notes. Below you can see a floor plan of a kitchen; we met withe client and used our imagination to ‘take out’ all of the pieces in her current kitchen and ‘put them away’ into her new kitchen. We wanted to make sure that the new kitchen will be well organized and that it will work for her and how she specifically uses her kitchen.

A few notes about the plan:

You can see that we kept a large storage space for her kids’ school stuff; papers, lunch bags, supplies, etc. They are stored away in baskets on adjustable shelves. Each kid has their own basket.

The Wolf range is located on the center of the left wall. Since the client is right handed, we put her cooking utensils and spices on the right. The upper cabinets to the left of the range are hinged so that you can access them both from the range without having to maneuver around open doors.

We designed a specific spot for the KitchenAid mixer to always sit on the counter. The upper corner cabinet will continue all the way down to the counter top and act as a mixer ‘garage’. Her baking utensils and mixing bowls are located in that corner as well on the lazy susan.

There is a designated breakfast prep spot on the right side of the kitchen. This will allow the kids to make their own breakfast while staying out of the kitchen work triangle (the space between the sink, range and fridge).

Here is a drawing of the wall with the range; you can see how we called out where the pieces will be ‘put away’.

Will you be re-designing your kitchen in 2012? If so, hauthaus can help! Give us a ring!